Christmas Mincemeat Recipe with Limoncello

This mincemeat recipe is really easy to make, less cloyingly sweet and non-suet. I’m feeling virtuous already about the way my Christmas diet is going.

The first of December, what better time to prep some mincemeat. We simply lurve mince pies in our household. I have no problem batch baking them well into January and beyond, usually using up the last of my over eager purchases of M&S mincemeat. However, I find shop-bought, even the more deluxe brands, too sweet. Mistakenly, I’d always thought that homemade was too hassly. Not so with this mincemeat recipe…

Nothing could be easier than homemade mincemeat. It’s a case of plonk fruit in pan, simmer and jar. Nothing as worrying as jam making and getting out thermometers or muslin, let alone maslin pans! I raided my store cupboard and found various dried fruits (you can play around with the mix of fruit to suit your taste). Instead of regular brandy, I opted for an Italianate twist as I didn’t have lemons to put in (more traditional); I opted for orange and the Limoncello more than made up for lack of real lemons. It gave a gentle bitter-sweetness to off-set all that dried fruit with its intense sugar.

Here’s to the start of festive fare. But if you’re not a mince pie fan, stay with me as I’ve two recipes coming up before Christmas that use mincemeat in alternatives ways – one sweet; one savoury (after all, in Tudor times, mince pie meat was meat!).

This mincemeat recipe is really easy to make, less cloyingly sweet and non-suet. Plus, it has a nip of Italian Limoncello to pep it up! Makes around 4 x 500g (sterilised) jars (each jar enough for 40 mince pies if not deep ones)

Recipe type: Jams & Preserves

Cuisine: British

Serves: 4 jars

Ingredients

275g dark brown sugarprint button transparent

275ml cider

1kg apples, cored, peeled and diced

200g raisins

200g sultanas

200g currants

150g dates

100g blanched almonds, chopped finely

50g blanched hazelnuts, chopped finely

juice & peel of 1 small orange

6 tbsps Limoncello (or use Cognac, or omit altogether if desired)

Method

Place the cider and sugar in a heavy-based, deep pan and heat gently until sugar has dissolved.

Add the apples first, stir and leave to cook down a little (5 mins) then add all the other ingredients except the alcohol, stirring them in well. Leave the lid half propped on and let it simmer gently for around 30 – 45 mins until the dried fruit and apples are soft and the liquid has reduced down to a small amount of thick syrup at the bottom of the pan. Ensure you stir the mix occasionally and check it’s not burning. Low, steady heat is a must.

Stir in 3 tbsps of Limoncello or your chosen brandy etc. Leave to evaporate for 5 mins on a gentle heat. Turn off the heat and leave to cool a little. Then, add the remaining Limoncello and stir through.

Decant the mincemeat into the sterilised jars; screw down lids or seal preserving jars. Keeps for around 2 months unopened at room temp., but place in fridge once opened.

Comments

You’ve done it again Liz with a delicious sounding and looking recipe with superbly styled and photographed images. We have mince fruit pies here in Australia for Christmas (a left over tradition from our English heritage), but I always buy the fruit mince already made, and just make the pastry. I have a superb pastry recipe that goes with them perfectly.
I will have to try your recipe. And again when is the recipe book coming out? Truly you must do it!

Jill, I usually make them in the same tins as you do. Shallower ones. But for this post (and photo shoot), I decided to try little dariole moulds I happened to have. They made some nice deep pies, but more for fun and as the occasional whim.

About Red Bistro

I am Liz, a food & lifestyle blogger and photographer based in Malta, an archipelago at the centre of the Mediterranean. The Red Bistro is my creative space: a photo diary of cultural and culinary Mediterranean life. Read More…